Promise
by Ruki44
Summary: Sometimes when someone's in pain, there really isn't much you can do but be there.


**Author Note** : So I've been in sort of a crash and burn writing stuff recently, and I wanted to try to get something out. It's not exactly what I wanted, but whatever.

* * *

Ruki sat in her room, staring at the light reflecting off the Sakuyamon card Takato had given her for her birthday just a few hours earlier. Colors of all sorts danced across the image, and Ruki pressed her lips together as she brushed her thumb across the mega's face.

"Renamon," she sighed, falling back on to her futon, glancing at the small Viximon Juri had sewn for her. Part of her wanted to be annoyed at the brunette for going through all this trouble to throw her a surprise party and forcing her to be in the center of attention like that, yet the way Juri's eyes sparkled as streamers burst into her face made any ill-feelings simply disappear to the wind.

And while she didn't admit it, beyond Kazu trying to goad her into participating in karaoke before mom thankfully stepped in, Ruki had _fun_. Of course, what would have made it better was if Renamon was there. The kitsune was there for her tenth birthday, but their partnership had just started and at the time, neither saw the other more than tools. A means to an end.

A knock on her door shook Ruki from her thoughts, and she lifted her head to see her grandmother standing in the doorway, clutching her night robe close to her chest despite the spring evening air not being that chilly.

"Ruki dear, phone," she said simply, her serene violet eyes boring into her and into her soul. Ruki squirmed under her gaze, never quite liking how she felt her secrets were laid bare before her grandmother. It was the same with Renamon, but at least with the vulpine there was a known mental connection.

"OK," the girl mumbled, putting her card down carefully next to Viximon and getting up, passing her grandmother into the hallway where the landline was. Part of her wondered who it was - her friends knew her cell phone number, not to mention she had _just_ seen them.

 _Maybe someone from school?_ She mused, pressing her lips together. It wouldn't be the first time she received a phone call at night from a desperate classmate who needed to know an assignment. Of course it could always be Yamaki or Reika as well - Megumi had already texted her wishing her happy birthday along with three pictures of her dog.

Picking up the phone and cradling it against her ear, Ruki leaned against the wall.

"Hello?" she asked, wrapping her finger around the cord.

There was silence for a moment beyond the sound of someone's breath coming from the other line. Finally, a familiar voice she hadn't heard in nearly eight years came across the line.

"Ruki?"

Her breath stopped and it was like she had been picked up and thrown in a lake of cold water before being promptly set on fire.

"Ruki are you-"

However, before the sentence could be finished, she slammed the phone down on the receiver as hard as she could. The good mood from earlier evaporated instantly. Heart pounding against her chest, trying to escape her body, her legs gave out from underneath her. Hot tears prodded unwanted in the corner of her eyes and she gasped for breath.

"What the hell?" she whispered to herself. "That's not fair, papa."

 **###**

" _Can't come today. Busy._ "

Juri looked at Ruki's message, the black letters standing out prominently against the white screen. Closing the phone with a snap, the brunnette checked the time and sighed. Her shift wasn't due to start for another couple hours, but everyone else needed to be elsewhere earlier than normal today, or, in Hirokazu's case, wasn't going to be out of school for another couple of hours; Yagami-sensei wasn't too happy to catch him sleeping during the middle of his class and _graciously_ offered to go over the lesson again after school.

Chewing on the inside of her cheek, amber eyes drifted upwards to the train station time table. Opening and closing her hands, her heart hammered against her chest before she turned on her heel, heading toward the Hata family home. No matter how busy Ruki said she was, the redhead would always put off what she was doing to spend time with the brunette or even listen to her talk.

 _Ruki-chan needs someone to remind her to take a break, otherwise she will work herself into a coma,_ Juri reasoned, stifling a yawn. Sometimes, her friend seemed to forget at the end of the day they were just children.

Juri's feet moved briskly down the sidewalk, her amber eyes only glancing up to look ahead of her at intersections. She only paused briefly when she passed the shrine to Inari on the way to Ruki's house. The steps were cracked and covered with moss, nor were there priests or priestesses constantly tending to it.

Unless you counted Ruki.

In the months following Renamon leaving, the redhead channeled her restless energy into the upkeep of the shrine. When asked about it, Ruki would only grunt and simply ignore the question, offering no explanation for her actions.

Even when Ruki wasn't physically here, the shrine itself felt warm. Sakura petals would coat the stone path and in the winter, a warm blanket of snow tucked it in. Yet looking at it now, the shrine was empty, an eerie quiet settling over it. Right now, not even the spring wind seemed to be playing inside.

A frown pulled at the brunette's lips as she once again picked up the pace, beginning to jog now. Her insides twisted and turned, not stopping even when she pushed open the gate to the Hata family home. It was only after she pounded on the door and Rumiko appeared did the snake which seemed to be choking her from the inside release its grasp.

"Juri-chan?" the older woman asked, taking a step to the side allowing the younger girl in.

"Is Ruki-chan…?" Juri asked tentatively, stepping inside and slipping her shoes off, the question trailing off, though the meaning of it not left unasked.

"In her room," the model answered, shutting the door behind the brunette, a slight frown pulling at her lips and amber eyes followed violet down the hallway which lead to the bedrooms. Sighing, Rumiko's shoulders slumped before returning her gaze to look at Juri, a soft, sad smile playing on her lips. "She's in a foul mood, though I don't know why. I wish she would talk to me."

Juri's lips pulled down ever so slightly at the new information, but forced them into a smile for Rumiko.

"I'll talk to her," she promised, and Rumiko nodded, calling after her cookies and tea would be ready in the next 15 minutes or so. Juri nodded and politely thanked the young mother, her feet already moving without needing to be told down the hallway, which seemed to have suddenly grown longer.

At the end, across from the pond, was Ruki's room. The door was shut, and Juri grimaced ever so slightly. The redhead's facial expressions were always impossible to read, but the way she interacted with her environment made her an open book. The other Tamer had a great interest in symbolism, and it seemed to carry over subconsciously into her actions.

 _And she says Hirokazu acts extra_ , Juri thought, unable to suppress an eyeroll.

Raising a hand, she knocked on the wooden frame.

"Ruki-chan," she called out softly. "It's me. Juri."

There was silence for a minute, and Juri opened and closed her hands, the beating of her heart slowly beginning to grow louder until Ruki finally answered her.

"The door's unlocked."

Sliding open the door, Juri noticed Ruki curled up in a corner of her room with a book nestled in her hands and the Viximon she had given her for her birthday resting in her lap. A small smile played on the brunette's lips at that, pleased her friend had taken such a liking to her gift.

Closing the door behind her, Juri approached Ruki, whose eyes followed her every movement. They bore right into her, piercing and intense, yet instead of feeling intimidated, the tenseness which had wound themselves into Juri's shoulders released.

"May I?" she murmured once she was standing in front of Ruki. The redhead stared at her a moment longer before sighing, closing her book and setting it off to the side. The smile growing wider, Juri sat down next to Ruki and leaned her head against the taller girl's shoulder. Reaching out, she slipped her hand into her friend's and closed her eyes, feeling the energy she didn't know she had lost slowly seep back into her body.

"What's up?" Ruki asked bluntly, never one for tact.

"Just wanted to see you. Is that OK?" Juri replied in kind, knowing the answer before it came.

Yet instead of practically tripping over her words to assure her, Ruki's answer was slower, a momentary beat, when she said, "Of course. You're always welcome to see me. You know that."

Juri opened her eyes as long fingers began to comb through her hair. Glancing up, her eyes met Ruki's, causing the taller girl to pause in what she was doing, only for a smile to momentarily appear when Juri grunted, annoyed.

"I know," Juri said once Ruki resumed playing with her hair. The slow movements were calming and relaxing, and tension slowly began to escape from her body. "Your mom said you were in a bad mood earlier. Didn't want to accidentally bother you. Especially since you said you were busy."

"Hn." Ruki grunted, but didn't stop what she was doing - a good sign. At least she wasn't withdrawing. Yet at any rate.

Deciding to test her luck, Juri pressed a bit more.

"Wanna talk about it?" she asked quietly. She wasn't surprised by the quick answer which followed.

"No."

"OK," Juri said, a sigh of disappointment escaping all the same.

Yet she knew Ruki. She wouldn't talk about it before she was ready, whenever that may be. Pushing her to open up only lead her to clamp down more.

Still, waiting was hard.

 **###**

Juri ended up falling asleep, her face calm and peaceful for the moment, though the redhead wondered how long that would last before the nightmares gripped her mind. Even though Juri never said anything about them, in the few times she had fallen asleep when it was just the two of them, the brunette would inevitably wake up in a cold sweat and crying.

Ruki wished she could do something. Even though they all had nightmares, even a year later Juri's mind still seemed intent on torturing her. The redhead wasn't sure when the last time the brunette had a proper night's sleep was.

"Yes, she's here," Ruki said quietly into the phone, looking at Juri who was curled up under the blanket Ruki had placed on her earlier. "Want me to wake her?"

"She's asleep?" Tadashi Katou's voice was equally as quiet despite being on the other end. There was a moment of silence before he sighed. "No, just … just send her home when she wakes up, please? And have her call me before she heads home."

"I'll pass along the message," Ruki promised before saying goodbye, hanging up the phone. Staring at her cellphone for a minute, a heavy sigh escaped her lips before she returned to Juri's side, looking over the small girl.

"Your father really loves you," she told the sleeping girl, brushing some of Juri's brown hair away from her face, causing the girl to stir somewhat but her eyes didn't open.

"I'm a bit jealous," Ruki found herself admitting. "I wish my dad was half attentive as yours is. I mean I know he has his faults, but I dunno, at least he was engaged in your life. I don't hear a peep out of my dad after he and mom split up, then suddenly out of the blue he calls me yesterday. Like everything is _normal_ and he didn't just up and abandon us for nearly seven years."

Against her will, Ruki felt the hot angry tears start to sting at her. Tongue clicking irritably against the roof of her mouth, she hurriedly wiped them away. Last thing she wanted was for Juri to wake up and ask her why she was crying.

"So stupid," she mutters angrily.

"Did you talk to him?" Juri's voice caused Ruki to jolt backwards, nearly falling on her back before the brunette's hand reaches out and catches her before she can.

Face red, Ruki could only stare flabbergasted at Juri, who was still lying down, eyes half open, her free hand rubbing sleep from her eyes. Yet Ruki didn't need to be told she had heard the entire confession, and her heart pounded heavily against her chest.

"I -" Ruki struggled for words, before pressing her lips together and straightening her back out. She pulled the righteous anger up from the depths of her soul. There was nothing for her to be ashamed of and she would refuse to allow herself to be. "No. I hung up on him."

"Mn," Juri yawned, sitting up now. "Don't blame you. No wonder you were upset. _I'm_ upset."

Ruki blinked, sniffling slightly. She wasn't quite sure what she was expecting, yet she knew it wasn't this. Honestly, part of her expected some sort of rebuke for not even allowing the man to speak.

"Why are _you_ upset?" she asked flabbergasted.

Juri didn't answer at first, pushing the blanket off herself and flopping on to Ruki, wrapping her arms around the redhead's waist. The taller girl sat still, sucking in her breath and hoping the brunette didn't hear her hammering heart.

It was unfair what Juri did to her.

"Because you're hurt," Juri grunted, squeezing her tightly as if she were trying to squeeze the life out of her. "I'm upset because you're hurting. I'm upset because you don't talk about it. I'm upset because I can _understand_ why you don't want to talk about it, even though I know you - _we_ \- should."

There was a bit of a pause before the brunette continued, her voice muffled in the folds of Ruki's clothes.

"I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?" Ruki asked, not understanding Juri's scattered and jumping thoughts. Each time she thought there was a moment of clarity, everything would turn on its head.

She wished things were simple, understandable. Yet they weren't.

They never were.

"I don't know," Juri sighed, pulling away, taking her warmth with her. "It seemed appropriate."

"You don't have to apologize for anything," Ruki said, her voice barely above a whisper, yet she knew the brunette heard her by the slight twitch of a smile playing on her lips. "Anyway your dad called. Wanted me to let you when you woke up to give him a call before going home."

"Dad called?" Juri asked, her brow furrowing before her eyes suddenly widened. Pulling out her phone suddenly, the brunette groaned as she dragged her hand across her face. "Shit! I totally forgot!"

Smiling apologetically, Juri smoothed down her wrinkled uniform before tilting her head and studying Ruki. The redhead once again felt like her soul was being laid bare, and she forced down a blush.

"I have to get going but I'll call you later," Juri said before holding out her hand, pinky extended and it took all of Ruki's will power not to laugh. Even as they grew older, the brunette's quirky childish tendencies never seemed to change. "Promise."

Reaching out, Ruki looped her pinky around the smaller one offered to her. It was warm against her skin, and she was dimly aware the anger from earlier, while not completely snuffed out, had been all but doused.

"Promise."


End file.
